Security Council

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 03:28 pm King Xenu and i are going to try an experiment in friendly war on KB. we're each going to take a c3 next to one another,no more than 20forts, no nukes, and a limit of 4t in weapons and ammo. you can choose whatever weapons you want other than nukes. the winner will be the one who ends up with the lowest wi when all the weapons/ammo are used up or takes the other country. no replenishment of weapons or ammo. also, no assistance from your empire or friends.

we'll see how it works. we anticipate that this will require some interesting strategies. it should't break anyone and i hope will create a more congenial relationship with one another. i know he and i have had a good time talking about it and planning.

Friday, August 13, 2010 - 01:57 am /me slaps everyone on the back of the head

War will do about as good to the world economy as corn, soybeans and rice.

There are four certain things that can be done to improve the economy: - Increase population; - Employ as many workers as possible; - Increase their salaries; - Build corporations;

All these things increase aggregate demand. Now war decreases aggregate demand by killing population, creating unemployment among professionals, offers lower salaries than corps (for the most part) and destroys corporations.

Most players think war is good for the economy, because it creates weapon corps that draw supplies from the other markets and the resulting products don't affect the other markets. That's a mistake. When there is unemployment, that doesn't work as the demand created is not nearly enough. Second, most of those corps close after the war. Third, even if there wasn't excess unemployment, products are created and retracted from the market to keep it running.

Hint: the harmonic mean of the employment index of the 35 largest empires of KB is 69,94%. It doesn't even reach 70%, while other worlds have it above 80%.

If you want a better economy, build corps. Any corp will do. Labour intensive corps are best at the moment though.

+1 for team Keynes

With that said, I support the gentleman's war being prepared by Parsifal and Xenu. It may still create demand, but what is really important is that it builds skills for some, keeps them sharp for others and keeps who wish to participate entertained.

Friday, August 13, 2010 - 10:32 pm Two towers go down in New York and markets everywhere take three steps back. If someone blew up the United States, I would like to see how the world would fare. The aftermath of the world wars was not pretty.

War here, as in the real world, poses too many economic and humans costs to have a positive effect on aggregate demand. Military spending, on the other hand, is very good. It creates jobs, employs the unemployed, yada, yada. However, unlike the real world, the really good spending is that which has a repetitive nature such as ammo spending, military services, supplies, components, etc.

The game has a good macroeconomic model. It is very realistic for what it is used for. The principles are here, as far a keynesian model is concerned, the only thing one can argue about is quantity. The extra functions of satisfying "excess" surplus or shortage aren't realistic though, but necessary.